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April 2013

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

I briefly switched myself to a modified night shift this week so I can check out some of the roads from my projects last year. Theres a six month period after a project is done where we check out how well the thermoplastic paint and the raised pavement markers (RPMs) have performed. We have to do this within 20 or 30 days (depends on the contract) of the 180 day period to ensure the pavement markings performed well. Well one of the projects was all RPMs on the interstates that we spent over $200,000 on, but when the winter storms came through this year, about ALL the markers came up because of snow plows, so I didnt need to check this project. Yeah, a big waste of taxpayer money, go figure. The other project was all secondary roads and these were part of a thermo and RPM contract. Some of those roads were also affected by snow plows, but I mainly checked them for the thermo. There werent a whole lot of roads to check out but they are spanned over a large area (some as far as near Charlotte and Columbia which takes up to 2 hours to drive from Spartanburg), so I worked all Monday night and half of Tuesday night (just after midnight) to return to work Wednesday morning. It was a weird schedule, but aint nothin Da Muhs cant handle.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

I put in to take Friday and Monday off work so I can go up to Philadelphia for a good long weekend since I likely wont have an opportunity to take off that kind of time with my project getting going soon. We had a preconstruction conference meeting with the contractor and they’re supposed to get started pretty soon. Once they really get going, I’ll likely be in the field with the contractor a lot since I’ve been designated “lead inspector”. The project manager wants me to be out there as much as the contractor so I may be getting a bit of overtime by having to come in early, leave late, and even work Saturdays. From time to time I may have somebody out there for me if I want to take a weekend off, but I need to build up some leave time anyway. I’ve been using up a bunch of leave lately so I need to take a break from taking days off.

I left after work to head to Hasheem’s apartment for the night, but since it was Thursday and I was passing through Charlotte at about Maghrib time I stopped at the Shia masjid there. They read Du’a Kumayl every Thursday night after prayer, but I hadnt been there since last Ramadhaan. Im going to try to get more involved with the community InshaAllah. So I stopped by just in time as they finished praying Maghrib. I prayed Isha with them and we read the du’a and some people recited some other stuff afterwards. I didnt want to get to Hasheem’s too late so I didnt stay to eat. They had some to-go plates so one of the brothers got one for me since I was about to leave without eating there. I had eaten earlier so I wasnt that hungry. I saved the plate for the next day on the road. I got to Hasheem’s at close to midnight. We stayed up and chatted for a bit as we do when I go there talking about how messed up the world is and philosophizing even though he was going into work early the next morning. We went to bed close to 1:30.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Hasheem made some of his patented oatmeal and tea before we dispersed. Thanks for letting me crash there, bud. I rode up to Philly (its actually in Bensalem, PA, but I always refer to it as Philly) with not too many problems, except I made some unnecessarily long stops as I rode through Amish country (Lancaster, PA). I didnt stop to get novelties or take a tour of an Amish farm, I stopped in a Walmart and Ross, and had to turn around at one point to get to an ATM. I also got stuck in some traffic as I got onto I-76 to I-476 to I-276. Even the toll road (I-276) had some heavy traffic but it wasnt too slow. It was raining heavy, too, so that didnt make the drive any funner. Alhamdulillah I got there alright, prayed, ate, talked, and watch some movies with the fam. Good times.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Me, Mumina, her mom, and her Korean sister-in-law who was visiting from California went to Mumina’s grandmothers house in Trenton so I can meet her grandfather for the first time. I had met her grandmother once before but he wasnt there at the time. Her uncle, aunt, and some cousins were there, too, who I hadnt met before either, so it was nice to meet them all. We ate some fried fish, pancakes, and eggs (even though it was late afternoon, but thats what they do). It was pretty good, too. We stayed there and talked for a while. We went back to the apartment at about 10pm.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Me and Mumina went to a park to have a picnic. It was kinda cold, so we sat at a bench rather than on the ground. We brought some leftover mac and cheese and some chips and drinks. We didnt stay there that long, though. It was nice and sunny so we enjoyed it nonetheless. Afterwards we went to a bowling alley/arcade. We had some fun there. We first tried to go bowling but they were full so we went to the arcade section to pass some time. We played a little of everything. After a while we went back to the bowling section and we got a spot. We bowled one game, which was pretty fun. Neither of us did too well, but that didnt matter. After that we went back to the arcade to use the rest of the money on the card they make you get (I guess thats standard because a place like that in Greenville has the same system). We had a good time but one thing really bothered me, but I wasnt too surprised. We got on the racing games (bike and car) and at the beginning and end of the race they have some very scantily clad woman dancing around. She has daisy dukes and a tank top on and it really is disturbing since earlier we saw kids playing on there and that place is technically for kids. I would not bring my kids there. Its hard to avoid this stuff these days. People wonder at why kids are so sexualized at younger and younger ages. Well, they’re putting that stuff all over the cartoons, kids movies, shows, internet, and games. Its crazy. Also, they had a bar at the bowling alley, which is bad, too, since kids are there bowling. I know you cant completely protect kids from that stuff but kids take in so much early on you have to at least try not to expose them to certain things. Anyways, that place doesnt help with that notion. We enjoyed it there, though. We came back later to try to watch the movie we’ve been trying to watch but we fall asleep too fast if we put it on at night, especially since she takes medicine at 9 which knocks her out in about an hour or two. Oh well.

Monday, April 7, 2014

I left in the afternoon after taking Mumina to a place to take a blood sample and picking up a pizza from a local pizza shop. I decided to take the toll road to Harrisburg (I-276 & 76) for the first time and down I-81 since I left at a time (about 4pm) where if I tried to take I-95 I would be stuck in afternoon traffic trying to get through Philly, Wilmington, Baltimore, and especially DC. I wasnt taking a chance on that potential nightmare. I had a pretty smooth ride going back, but took some unnecessary extra time trying to decide on a place to pray. All in all a good trip. I just wont be able to do it like that much more, but I will try to go up there when I get the chance, probably not 4 days though.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

I woke up not feeling so well and was super tired since I came in at about 4am. I called into work to say I’ll come in around noon. No problem, except I had to burn another 4 hours of leave time. Oh well.

Friday, April 11, 2014

After work I left to go to Ruqi and Hasan’s house to get together with some of the brothers around that Shia community for a weekend of brotherhood and such. I got there pretty late but they were still up. There were about 8 or 9 of us that night. A few more brothers would join us the next day. We talked for a while, some falling asleep, but others stayed up. We all were asleep by about a few hours to Fajr time.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

We were all up pretty early. Hasan made some delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, some meat and fruit. After that we all went for a walk down a country road to walk off some of dem calories. It was a really good walk. We just turned around after some time and headed back to the house. Im surprised no country folk called the cops reporting a million man terrorist march going on. Later on we went to the beach after stopping at Walmart in Jacksonville to get some supplies. When we got to the beach we found a place to pray. It was hard to find a good place to park so we parked illegally for a few minutes at a playground/tennis court area and prayed in the grass. No troubles, so that was cool. Now off to some fishing! Well I was going to fish, but they charge $12 per person so I decided to watch instead since I didnt have my wallet with me. They charge $1 to walk the pier and watch, though. Hasan offered to pay for me, but I didnt want him to waste money on me, especially since I never had gone fishing and I was content with just observing and enjoying the sun and ocean. Nobody was really catching anything. One brother caught a little fish, which they let go after struggling to get the hook off him. Hopefully he’s alright. Some people around us caught some small sharks, which they threw back in the water. Soon before we left, I took Abbas down to the water. On our way across the pier I saw a boy who had apparently been in the water and I asked if the water was cold and he said “Yeah, a little bit”. That boy lied...that little weasel. That water was FREEZING! not just ‘a little bit’. Anyways, I got in anyway after Abbas kept splashing cold water on me and I splashed him back. We ran out and went back in a few times before I submerged myself in that freezing cold water. I might as well since I may not be back to a beach for a while. It was alright. We saw the others leaving after less than 10 minutes of us being by the water. We had a pretty nice time. Woulda been better if we had some fish to grill. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? Grill chicken I guess. When we got back, Hasan fired up the grill and began cooking the chicken. While we waited for the food, some of the guys shot some guns and threw a football here and there. Even a little kid shot some guns. I didnt partake in shooting either, but I should have since I need to get more experience. Its been on my list for years (I guess towards the bottom of my list) to get my permit and buy a gun, but I’ve just been a real procrastinigger. Some day, Da Muhs, some day. Anyways, that was fun to watch. There be some loud guns there, too. Im surprised no country folk called the cops reporting a terrorist camp going on. Maybe if we do this more often we’ll get some calls. Then we can finally fight our jihad! Yay!!!! Just kidding. Anyways, we ate as the sun was setting. The chicken came out great and we ate some bread and salad with it. Great job, Hasan. After that we prayed outside on their cool patio. That was nice. After that we got together and had a meeting to discuss community needs. It was a short discussion as it was getting late and most brothers were leaving that night. So that was that and people began leaving. A few of us stuck around but went to sleep since we all be tired. It was only a little after 10 (early for this nigga these days), but it was a long day. It was fun, though. It was cool meeting others who were also children of the Islamic Party movement.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

The last few brothers left early and Hasan went to the barber shop along with Abbas after he cut one of the brother’s hair. He offered to cut mine, but he was already running a little late so I didnt wanna hold him up. That left me by myself, so I planned on leaving after the Google Hangout with the fam. I set up on their laptop and joined the fam. I had some issues with headphones but I was guided aright. Thanks, Fatimah/Mumu. That went well. It was a lot sooner than they had been before. I guess we got this thing down. Its always good to see/chat with my family. I left after praying and cleaning up a little. I took a new way back using some country roads and actually got confused once I got to Charlotte, but eventually found my way out. Great weekend, Alhamdulillah. Maybe we can do it again sometime.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

I had received the Windows XP reinstallation disc on Monday so I can try to revive the old computer I have after I wiped the whole thing clean. After reinstalling Windows there were some problems. I couldnt connect to the internet, the display was terrible, and the sound wasnt working. I saw that the drivers for these three things werent working so I had been trying to figure out how to fix it over the last two days. It didnt make sense to me because when I loaded Linux from a recovery disc I have, the screen was great, internet worked, but sound didnt work. I somehow figured out how to access Windows folders from another Linux OS I loaded from the disc and was able to get on the internet, download the necessary driver for the ethernet port from the Dell website, and put it in a folder on Windows. Fortunately that worked. When I rebooted to Windows the file was there, I installed it, and it worked. I woulda downloaded all the drivers I needed at one time but I wasnt sure if the one was even gonna work. So I was able to get on the internet from Windows and on a 4-bit screen was able to find the video driver and downloaded and installed that one. Finally being able to see the screen clearly, I downloaded the sound driver and that worked. Alhamdulillah. Now the test is to see if the computer can handle a Google Hangout. From early signs I may run into the same problem of the computer running slow for it since at times when Im connected to the internet, the computer runs a little slower, but not as bad as before. I really dont want to have to get a new computer or other device just to be able to do hangouts, so I really hope this works. I was just glad I got Windows running again. I didnt care about erasing everything because I didnt have anything really important on there. It woulda sucked if I didnt figure out how to fix it. I saw later on that they do sell discs with drivers for a dell so if I didnt have the recovery disc and see that I can access Windows folders from Linux, I probably woulda had to order the driver disc. It woulda been easy just to give up when I first wiped out the computer, but Im glad I didnt have to spend too much money or time to get it back to this point. Now I’ll see how it does with a Hangout InshaAllah.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

I was vacuuming my car out at a vacuum station at the laundromat when someone pulling away stopped and said something. I didnt catch what they said right away but they said “we got the same shirt!” We were both wearing the same Colts shirt. I was like “oh, awesome.” That was funny. Go Colts!

I went up to Charlotte to the Shia masjid there for a program commemorating the birth of Fatima Zahra (AS). It was a pretty good program. Some read Qur’an and another read poetry in Farsi, then we prayed, listened to a lecture, then ate and left. Im just trying to engage a little more with the community there. InshaAllah I’ll try to make it to some of the programs in Ramadhaan, too, like I did last year. Although Im the only black guy I still feel like a part of the community and feel welcome. But since its over an hour drive I only pop in from time to time.

Monday, April 21, 2014

I received mail from AARP offering me membership. I dont know where they get their data from but they were way off. I may have grey hairs and some wisdom but I aint that old yet. I think they had on there I must be over 50 to qualify. Whoever is selling my data needs to do some more research on me. All it takes is a Google search.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

I went to the masjid during my extended lunch break to pray there. Earlier in the week I had brought one of my old basketballs (mom brought up two of my old basketballs from her house when she brought my stuff up so I donated one) there and also bought a new net for the basket since the other one was torn up. I saw a basketball in the grass thinking it was mine so I went to pick it up. It was flat so I was like “wow, it went down fast”. I quickly realized it was the old basketball that was already there and I didnt see my ball around. I’d hate to think some nigger stole a basketball from the masjid. I hope its around maybe in the woods or stowed away somewhere or something but I just shake my head (or smh...first and last time I use that acronym) at the notion that it only took a few days for someone to steal a ball from the masjid. Crazy. I dont think Im going to donate my other ball.

Friday, April 25, 2014

After work I drove down to moms for the weekend. Mom was still cooking some delicious food when I got there, including a cream cheese brownie cake (which we didnt start eating until the next day). We prayed and I went to pick up Taahirah from City of Knowledge after some program they held there. We stopped in Kroger to get some milk before going back to the house. After that we ate and wound down for the night.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Mom showed me her tent setup in the back yard. Its awesome. She has some airbeds, some chairs, prayer rug, carpeting, and a Qur’an in there. Very nice place to relax. We all went to the park in the morning to walk. That was fun. Me and Taahirah went around the track again and did a little jogging, speedwalking, and regular walking the second time around. After that we sat in the shelter and talked for a bit before leaving. Such a beautiful day out. When we got back, I prayed Dhuhr out in the tent and actually napped a minute (on the side of the bed though). After getting up I cut the grass in the front yard, then weed-whacked around the yard. Before weed-whacking, though, we jump-started the riding mower and put some gas in it. We ran out of gas for the weed-whacker so I ran down to the gas station down the road to get some gas for the gas/oil mix it needed. After all that it was getting late so we didnt get to cutting the back. I showered and prayed and later on we watched some TV (part of documentary on US National Parks). After that we prayed and wound down. Busy, fun day.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

We did the Google Hangout with the family from Taahirahs room, but the computer kept lagging so some stuff got missed. It was better than my computer, though. It was another good hangout, nonetheless. Its always nice to hang with fam. After that we prayed, then went out to play some badminton. Abu Bakr asked me to help him with something so that ended the badminton for the day. We continued work on a pipe in the garage that connects to the hose outside. We worked on it last time I was down there but had some trouble. This time it worked out fine. Cool. Afterwards Me, mom, and Taahirah went to a new Mexican restaurant next to Karachi Grill that serves Halal meat (or so they say...jk). It was alright, but mom didnt like it that much. The food was fine, but she says the atmosphere wasnt professional enough. She said she wouldnt go back. It was fine to me, though, but Im not very observant or keen on things so she picked up on things that I may not sense. Oh well. After that we went to the park down the road to walk off some of dem calories. It was a fairly short walk but it was still nice. When we got back I got my stuff ready to go. I didnt want to leave too late so I didnt wait until Maghrib like I usually do since it comes in so late these days. I ended up praying Maghrib at a rest area halfway back to Spartanburg. Nice visit. Hadnt been there in almost two months. See y’all next time InshaAllah.

Tuesday, April 28, 2014

I had gone to the masjid during my extended lunch break to pray there. On Monday I had brought my pump to pump up the old basketball there and did so. Before I got to the masjid this day I was thinking how crazy it would be if that ball was missing like the one I brought the week before. Lo and behold it was missing. Niggers! That ball had been there for a long while and all of a sudden its missing as soon as it gets pumped up. Some nigger must be desperate or stupid or lazy or all of the above. If you really wanted to steal a pumped up ball you could have got your own pump and stole that ball and pumped it up any time. But you wait until it gets pumped up and you steal it. Well, you’re welcome I guess. So were you checking the ball every day to see if it was pumped up or just by chance you come by and the ball is pumped up? It must have made your day. Stealing my ball wasnt enough for you, huh? Now you steal this ball. Did you steal my ball right away, too? I didnt come by until a few days after I brought it there, so I dont know. Im not angry. I just know not to leave any pumped up basketballs at the masjid. The next time I wanna play there I’ll just bring my other ball and take it back with me. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the basketballs. May Allah forgive you. Hey, maybe we can ball sometime. You probably suck, anyway, so it’ll be fun to kick your butt in a game of hoops. You down, nigga? Nigger.